STRATEGIC PLANNING

Aging and Health Program Launches

After a strategic planning process that ended in 1982 the Hartford Foundation began its new program to improve the health of older adults. By the mid-1990s, the Aging and Health program would be the Foundation’s singular focus.

From the 1983 Annual Report:

One of the most significant factors affecting American society in the coming decades is the aging of the nation’s population. Because of longer life expectancies and the steady decline of the infant mortality rate over the past 50 years, the number of persons over age 65 is expected to increase 40 percent by 2000 and another 60 percent by 2025...

In the area of health, the implications of the growing number of older people are profound. As a group, the elderly are characterized by an increased incidence of chronic health problems and functional disability. Not surprisingly, they are among the highest utilizers of health care.

The goal of the Aging and Health program is to improve the ability of the health system to accommodate the “age bulge” in the population...

“We saw that there was abysmal capacity in geriatrics in the teaching institutions of physicians, nurses, and social workers. In most of these institutions, geriatrics didn’t even have a place at the table.” Norman H. Volk
Chairman
The John A. Hartford Foundation